Ephemeral Goals

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Goals that have a temporary existence, that is, they can appear and disappear during the gameplay; their appearance not necessarily known at the beginning of the game and their disappearance may not be due to their completion or them having become impossible.

This pattern is a still a stub.

Examples

Using the pattern

Ephemeral Goals are often also Preventing Goals, simply because a player that is striving towards an such as goal presents himself or herself as a target only from when first observed until the goal is reached or impossible to any longer reach. In these cases it may be difficult to provide specific Rewards related to the ephemeral aspect of the goal (prevent the other goal may be its own Reward). Games that want to acknowledge the possible Game Mastery required to succeed with these types of goals may use specific Achievements - the Level a Charge and Fuel Crisis Achievements in Left 4 Dead 2 are both examples of this[1].

Ephemeral Events

Interruptible Actions

Diegetic Aspects

Interface Aspects

Narrative Aspects

Consequences

Relations

Can Instantiate

with ...

Can Modulate

Can Be Instantiated By

Can Be Modulated By

Possible Closure Effects

Potentially Conflicting With

History

An updated version of the pattern Ephemeral Goals that was part of the original collection in the book Patterns in Game Design[2].

or

New pattern created in this wiki.

References

  1. List of Left 4 Dead 2 achievements in the Steam Achievements system and percentages of gamers receiving them.
  2. Björk, S. & Holopainen, J. (2004) Patterns in Game Design. Charles River Media. ISBN1-58450-354-8.